Arts take centre stage amid fears for the future

The creation of a new league table measuring pupils’ performance in key subjects other than the arts and the scrapping of a major programme which promoted creativity in schools has raised concerns that progress made over the last 10 years will be lost.

Now an event that will bring together people from the education and cultural sectors in Yorkshire is being held to focus on the future of arts in the classroom.

Poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan will be the keynote speaker for the event that takes place next month in Leeds.

Education Leeds is holding the conference with support from the Arts Council England along with Calderdale, North East Lincolnshire and Wakefield councils.

The organisers originally planned to hold the event last year to look at ways of building on the Rose Review of the primary school curriculum, published 18 months ago, which identified the “importance of the arts” as one of its priorities.

However, the change in Government brought with it the launch of another curriculum review and conference organiser Clare Price, head of development at Education Leeds’ music and arts team, said it was decided to postpone the event until “the dust had settled”.

Now the Creating the Future conference is set to take place amid fears the importance of art in schools could be set to decline.

In secondary schools the coalition have created the English Baccalaureate which is to be awarded to pupils who achieve at least five A* to C passes at GCSE, including English, maths, a humanity, a science and a modern language but it does not include any art subjects.

In the higher education sector, universities have had their teaching budgets for all arts and humanities subjects cut while science, technology, engineering and maths subjects have been protected.

The director of an agency which has delivered a programme in which artists and professionals from creative industries worked with schools, has voiced fears over the future of arts education.

More than 150 schools in West and South Yorkshire have been reached through the Creative Partnerships programme since it began in 2002 but funding was axed by the coalition last year.

Pat Cochrane director of CAPE UK, who is speaking at the conference, said: “There is so much evidence that if you engage children in arts and culture it boosts their sense of self belief, their confidence, their ability to make decisions and to deal with difficult ideas.

“There is a danger that a polarisation is being created with a focus on raising standards and regarding arts and culture as softer subjects.

“The English Baccalaureate does not include the arts and I have been around long enough to know that league tables can affect decisions in schools. Some of the people we work with have told us that schools are already changing their offer because of the English Baccalaureate.”

She told the Yorkshire Post she would tell delegates to stick to their guns in defending the importance of the arts.

Mrs Price said the conference would allow people to showcase work that has been successful in the region’s schools.

She works as part of Education Leeds’ ArtForms team. This comprises an arts and music service for schools along with a collection of artefacts and pieces of art that are used to help in the classroom.

Education Leeds’ Artemis collection, in Holbeck, consists of about 10,000 items that can be used by teachers.

ArtForms’ work has included delivering teacher training programmes in Leeds schools by getting staff to work with artists on courses in drama, dance, drawing, film, early years education and special needs education.

Leeds was chosen as national pathfinder for this project with £2.5m Find Your Talent funding.

Mrs Price said: “There is a sense now of looking back and thinking ‘we have never had it so good’ with the different strands of funding which have now gone but the conference gives us chance to make sure that the knowledge which has been built up over the years is not lost.

“The aim of the event is to look at how we can ensure children and young people continue to access the highest quality arts provision wherever they live and learn.”